Deadly Obsession (5 page)

Her eyes were bright with unshed tears. “I know. It’s just…I think it’s finally hitting me that she’s gone.
Gone.
I don’t have anyone…” Her voice broke, and he had to force himself not to comfort her.

The annoying desire to hold her against his body again nearly overwhelmed him. He internally cursed at himself. He was the sheriff, not some randy teenager with his first crush.

“Let’s go in. I want to get this over with,” she murmured after a moment.

He knocked once, then entered without waiting for Hailey to respond. Half the time the coroner couldn’t hear him because she worked while listening to her MP3 player.

Hailey was bent over a body when they walked in.

“Hailey?” he shouted.

The coroner glanced up and though he couldn’t be sure because of her surgical mask, it looked like she smiled when she spotted Lilly.

After putting down her scalpel and taking out her earphones, she tugged off the mask and walked toward them with a bright smile. “Lilly. It’s so good—oh my God! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it was good that you’re here. It’s horrible that—I only meant—”

“It’s okay. I know what you meant.” Lilly cut her off with a wry smile.

Braden cringed at Hailey’s brash manner. He was used to her, but he’d forgotten how she acted around the living. The woman could dissect a body and eat spaghetti at the same time.

Hailey took a step closer. “I’m really sorry about your aunt.”

“Thank you. I guess I need to sign some paperwork so she can be cremated?” Lilly shoved her hands deep into her pockets.

“Well…” Hailey glanced back and forth between Lilly and Braden.

Lead settled inside him. He’d seen that look before and knew he wasn’t going to like whatever she had to say next.

“What?”
he asked.

“With everything going on lately, I want to be sure about cause of death before I sign off on anything. I’ve got a couple of med students coming down from Campbell University and Duke tomorrow as part of a fellowship program and I’m going to let them take a look at…a few of the bodies.”

Braden frowned. “I thought they only came down in the summer.”

“They’re getting extra credit and extra practice by coming now. It’s a win-win for both of us. God knows I need the help.” She turned her gaze to Lilly. “If you’re uncomfortable with anyone else looking at your aunt, I understand.”

Her lips pulled into a thin line as her eyebrows furrowed together. “I’m a little confused. I thought my aunt fell down her stairs.”

Hailey shrugged. “As far as I know she did, but something about her head wound is bothering me. I want a second opinion.”

Lilly bit her bottom lip but nodded. “Do what you need to do.”

Hailey quickly refocused her attention back on Braden. “I need to show you something before you leave.”

Braden looked at Lilly, hating to keep her there any longer than necessary. “I’ll only be a sec, then we’ll get out of here.”

“Actually, I wouldn’t mind Lilly’s opinion on this too. Don’t move.” Without waiting for a response, Hailey strode past two tarp-covered bodies toward a desk in the far corner of the expansive room. Her shoes squeaked across the linoleum floor as she hurried back. She held a piece of paper to her chest, but didn’t turn it around. “Braden, I want Lilly’s opinion on this as an outsider. I want to see what she thinks this is so don’t say anything.”

“Fine,” he said.

Wordlessly, Lilly nodded.

Hailey flipped the paper over and held it out. It was a print out of a colored flower. A lily to be exact. And it looked eerily similar to the abstract carvings on their four victims. Not exactly the same, but the lines and shapes, minus the purple and green coloring, followed the exact pattern. He hadn’t realized what the carving was until this instant. Seeing it filled in with color made a complete difference.

His palms dampened as he stared at the picture. The possible significance hit him like lightning.
A lily
. “Where did you find this?” Braden asked.

“Online. Now shush.” Hailey didn’t even glance his way.

He opened his mouth to respond but Lilly frowned, then looked back and forth between them. “Is this some sort of joke? If it is, I don’t get it.”

“Joke? Does this look like anything to you?” Now it was Hailey’s turn to frown.

“Yeah, why do you have a drawing of my tattoo?”

Everything around Braden funneled out as her words registered. “Tattoo?” Somehow he managed to squeeze the word out.

Still frowning, she lifted up the bottom of her jacket and shirt and tugged the side of her jeans down to reveal a delicate, abstract tattoo on her hip. “Yeah, I got it in Japan a couple years ago. Why?”

Instead of responding, he looked at Hailey who had paled considerably. Obviously this wasn’t the reaction she’d been looking for. She’d just wanted Lilly’s opinion on the drawing.

Pieces of the puzzle came together so quickly he felt as if his brain would overload. He wasn’t the only link to the killer. Somehow Lilly was neck deep in this. She just didn’t know it. And Braden didn’t know how the hell to react. If anything happened to Lilly—he fought the painful jolt that erupted inside him as the image of Lilly stretched out on the coroner’s slab assaulted his mind. All those women had been raped and tortured and to think of Lilly suffering like that…He shuddered. Whatever had happened between them in the past, he didn’t care. He’d make it his mission in life to protect her.

As a squad car drove past him, he scooted down a couple more inches in the seat of the truck he’d stolen. From his position in the parking lot next door, he had a perfect view of Mallory Spinoza’s yoga studio. It was early. Too early for her clients to have arrived yet.

Bad for her, but perfect for him. He glanced at his watch as her sporty red two-door car zoomed into the parking lot. Right on time. She always showed up two hours earlier than her first class of the day. Normally he preferred more time with his women, but he needed to find some sort of release before he took Lilly.

When he saw Mallory’s car door open, he got out of his truck. The neighboring parking lots were all linked behind the stores lining the main street, giving him the perfect cover.

“Mallory! Hey, you got a second?” He waved and jogged across the pavement. He kept his voice friendly.

She shut her door and hoisted a black duffel bag over her shoulder. Her dark ponytail swung slightly as her head tilted to the side. He knew she was wondering where she knew him from. Was racking her brain right now, trying to figure out if he was in one of her classes.

“Hi.” Placing a hand on his waist, he pretended to be out of breath when he reached her.

“Uh, hi…” She smiled, her toothpaste commercial teeth flashing brightly.

“You don’t remember me do you?”

She let out a self-deprecating chuckle. “No, I’m sorry. Are you in one of my classes?”

They were barely a foot apart. He grinned and in that moment before he struck, raw fear flared in her dark eyes. She might not even be aware of it, but the animal inside her recognized what he was.

He punched her once, on the side of the face. He’d tried drugging women before but he preferred this method. It ensured they experienced maximum pain when they finally gained consciousness. She fell against the side of her car and before she could think about struggling, he struck again. This time harder.

The flat part of his curled fist connected with her jaw. An almost inaudible cracking sound cut through the crisp air. Her slim body slid down the car and crumpled onto the pavement.

Blood rushed in his ears as it always did before he killed. He glanced around to find everything as it should be. He could hear cars zooming down the main road of town, but there were no signs of life behind her studio. This was almost too easy.

Hoisting her over his shoulder, he carried her toward the back of her building. Using the keys he found in her purse, he quickly locked them inside. No alarm sounded. But then, he already knew that it wouldn’t.

At thirty years old, Mallory was about a decade older than the women he normally preferred, but she still had a tight ass and perky tits. She was more than acceptable.

Not to mention she had so many similar qualities to Lilly Carmichael. Dark hair, slim build, porcelain skin. It might explain why the sheriff had dated her in the first place despite the fact that she was a shallow bitch and not his type at all.

She stirred in his arms so he didn’t waste time securing her wrists and ankles to the yoga ropes against the wall. Normally he preferred a flatter surface on his own turf but he couldn’t risk transporting her somewhere else.

Not now. Not when he was so close to finally making Lilly pay.

After stripping out of his clothes, he laid out his small array of tools and sheathed himself with a condom. He couldn’t afford to get sloppy now. Leaning against the wall, he positioned himself so that their faces were inches apart. He wanted to see that moment when she opened her eyes and she realized she was going to die.

She didn’t disappoint. Her dark eyes widened, and when she started to scream, he shoved a strip of heavy-duty masking tape over mouth. This was a little different than he normally did things, but he couldn’t risk someone hearing her screams.

“Are you ready to play?” he murmured against her cheek.

With tears streaming down her cheeks, she tried to jerk away from him, but she had nowhere to go.

Lilly took a step back as she glanced between Braden and the coroner. On a scale of one to ten on the weird scale, they were acting like a fifteen. Why on earth were they asking her about her tattoo?

And why had Braden’s face suddenly paled?

“Okay, what’s this all about?” She placed a hand on her hip.

“I…” Hailey trailed off and shook her head.

“Why don’t you take a seat?” Braden motioned behind her, but she didn’t move.

“No, why don’t you two tell me what’s going on?”

“We need to show her,” Hailey said.

Braden scrubbed a hand over his face. “You’re right. This way.”

As they filed into the hall, Lilly fought the eerie sensation that had settled into her gut. Braden didn’t lose his cool. Ever. Or he hadn’t when they’d been younger.

Two doors down, he held open another door for them. She followed Hailey who flipped on the lights. The garish fluorescent bulbs put off a high frequency sound as they lit up, compounding her uneasiness.

Two wooden desks were pushed together in an otherwise bare pale green room. The wall by the desks had three giant corkboards. Blown-up pictures of crime scenes, computer printouts and photos of various women’s head shots were tacked up. “What is this place?”

“The detectives have a work station set up at headquarters for the case I told you about but Hailey and I sometimes work late here and it’s easier than heading back to the station. With the exception of hard evidence, this is a copy of basically everything my detectives have.” Braden nodded toward the corkboards.

Lilly thought it was interesting that he worked late with Hailey, but she had no right to feel jealous if they had a relationship. “So what’s the deal with my tattoo?”

“Look.” Hailey walked to one of the boards and pointed toward a row of four pictures.

Lilly’s stomach roiled as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. “Is that what I think it is…Is that skin?”

“These are pictures taken from our last four victims. After torturing and killing them, our guy carves this symbol into the center of the victims’ backs. I’ve been trying to figure this out for a year. I’ve been running this image through different databases with no luck.
Until now.
I can’t believe this.” Hailey muttered a string of surprising curses as she shook her head.

“When did you find this sketch?” Braden asked.

Lilly glanced back at him. He stood near the door, his face an unreadable mask.

Hailey kept her focus on Lilly as she answered. “This morning. I started looking up different symbols of death. It was a shot in the dark but at this point, we had nothing to lose. The lily symbolizes fertility and purity but it’s also a symbol of death. I was up all night and when I put ‘lily death symbol’ in the search engine, I found this,” she held out the piece of paper still clasped tightly in her hand, “on a tattoo website.”

Lilly’s gaze strayed back to the photos. A familiar numbness spread throughout her arms and legs like hot lava. The carvings were frighteningly similar to her tattoo. Without the colored ink it would be difficult to discern what the symbol was, but compared with the print out, it was obvious. It could be random that her tattoo was carved into the victims’ backs, but she didn’t believe in that much coincidence. “What does this mean?” Lilly rasped out.

“I have no idea, but I think you’re somehow involved. Starting now, you’re officially under protective custody.” Braden’s deep voice echoed in the small room. “You’re not going anywhere without my protection.”

“Okay.” Under normal circumstances, she’d probably argue with him, but considering she was conjuring up images of a masked man, she kept her mouth shut. She might be a trained agent but she had too many demons to deal with on her own. “Do you know if any of the women were taunted or harassed by this guy before he killed them? Did any of them file police reports before their death?”

Eyeing her curiously, he shook his head. “No. Why?”

She contemplated mentioning the masked figure she’d seen but knew it had to be part of her PTSD. Any sane woman would report being stalked by someone so if the others hadn’t been, it wouldn’t make sense for this guy to change pattern with her. And there was no way she was admitting her hallucinations to Braden. “Just trying to cover all bases.”

Another batch of photos caught her gaze. Bile rose in her throat as she picked up one of the enlarged prints. “
This
is what he does to them?”

Lilly looked between Braden and Hailey. They both nodded silently. As if pulled by a magnet, her gaze was drawn back to the picture of a woman who had no doubt been very pretty before her death. Cuts covered her chest, stomach and legs and burn marks covered her back and legs. And there was a cluster of burn marks between her thighs.

“We still don’t know what he’s using to inflict those burn marks,” Braden murmured.

Placing the picture back on the desk, she looked at Braden. “It’s not a Taser?”

He shook his head. “The prongs are too far apart and we haven’t been able to match it to anything on the market.”

Frowning, she glanced back at the pictures and it registered that she’d seen those markings before. “Have you checked it against farm equipment, like a cattle prod or something?”

“No, but I will,” Hailey said.

Lilly turned from the disturbing photos and met Braden’s dark gaze. Dozens of questions raced through her mind but the only thing that mattered was getting away from those photographs. Her stomach pitched and she was afraid she’d be sick if she didn’t get out of the room. In the last year she’d seen some of the most horrid things a human should have to, but it didn’t mean she’d gotten used to any of it.

Braden immediately took her arm in a gentle grasp. “Come on. I’ll fill you in on the way to breakfast.”

With a mute nod, she mumbled a goodbye to Hailey. Once they were in Braden’s truck, Lilly’s racing heart had calmed a little, but a heavy ball congealed in her stomach.

“You okay?” Braden asked.

She shook her head and strapped in. “This is insane.”

“Tell me about it,” he muttered. “You still feel like getting breakfast?”

Despite the horrors she’d seen around the world, this was too personal. She didn’t want to eat and she didn’t want to think about any of this. At least not this instant. Over the past year she’d learned to compartmentalize everything so she’d just do it now. “Can we wait until lunch instead? I don’t think I can hold anything down right now. I’d rather talk to the reverend now and get it over with.”

“All right. Let me make a few calls.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Lilly, we’ve got to talk about your tattoo.”

“I know,” she muttered.

Lilly stared out the window, taking in the familiar sights as Braden drove through town talking on his phone. All the stores were open this time of day. Chalkboards were out on the sidewalks displaying the restaurant specials and awnings and umbrellas were open at the various coffee and pastry shops. Unfortunately for her, the tint on Braden’s truck windows wasn’t very dark. Most of the people eating outside were tourists, but as they pulled to a stoplight, she received a few double takes from people she hadn’t seen in a decade.

Fantastic.

When she heard her name, she glanced at Braden and frowned. His answers were one-worded grunts so she wasn’t sure who he was talking to. Braden hung up as he turned left onto Maple Street.

“Who was that?”

“The secretary at the church. She told me Reverend Ingram is at the funeral home going over last minute details for another service. I told her we’d meet him there, but only if you’re up to it.”

“I’m not going to have a breakdown if that’s what you’re worried about. Let’s do this, then I have a ton of questions for you. Besides my tattoo and your connection to the victims, are there any other links?”

His jaw clenched as he steered into the parking lot of the funeral home. “Nope.”

The coffee she’d had earlier rolled around like battery acid in her stomach. She’d been gone for so long. What possible connection could she have to Braden and a local maniac killing people? None of this made sense. “So what do you think that means?”

Sighing, he put the car in park and shifted to face her. “I honestly don’t know. We’ve got someone from the FBI arriving the day after tomorrow.”

“
FBI?
So you really do think this is a serial killer at work then?”

He nodded. “I have since we found the second victim. The wounds on the victims were depraved but methodical.”

“Have you run the profile of the killings through any databases?”

“Yeah. We’ve cross-referenced NLETS and I’ve been in contact with the FBI’s NCAVC. So far nothing in either database has yielded a pattern elsewhere in the country.”

“Who is the FBI sending?” The NSA rarely worked with the FBI, but they had on occasion when national security was at stake. She figured she might know the agent.

“Special Agent Simon Levenson. Do you know him?”

Her eyebrows lifted. “Not personally, but I’ve heard of him. He worked with the DEA before the FBI. He’s got a lot of field experience and he’s really good at what he does. How’d you land him?”

“Don’t know. We’ve been trying to get someone since the third killing, but they kept telling us they were stretched too thin. After last night, I guess they decided this warranted their time.”

She didn’t miss the annoyance in his voice, but decided not to comment. All of their departments were stretched tight at the moment and national security trumped a string of small town killings any day of the week, especially if there wasn’t a pattern popping up elsewhere in the country. Didn’t make it right, but sometimes it was just the way things were.

“So what made you think of a cattle prod?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I’ve seen the markings before. I don’t know how much you know about what I do, but I study a lot of real world situations like how certain areas would handle the aftermath of a nuclear attack or how countries under dictators would fare if a democratic system was put in place. Stuff like that…” She trailed of as she realized she technically couldn’t tell him where she’d seen the markings before. For one of her first projects with the NSA she’d studied Serbia and the political dynamic that existed there a decade ago. In Kosovo, during the so-called ethnic cleansings, she’d seen classified pictures with eerily similar markings on countless dead women and children.